


Diplomacy Makes Strange Bedfellows

by fiftyshadesofgreywarden



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-09
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-25 12:22:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12035793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fiftyshadesofgreywarden/pseuds/fiftyshadesofgreywarden
Summary: Diplomacy is a slippery slope, being the Pathfinder for humanity and forging good relations is like stepping on thin ice.Constantly butting heads with the mysterious resistance leader, Evfra de Teershav, it'll be any wonder if one of them will survive humanity in Andromeda.





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> Sad disclaimer is sad: I do not own the Mass Effect franchise, I just use their characters for my enjoyment.

[ _It is advisable Pathfinder, to not infuriate the Resistance Commander_ ]

SAM’s voice filled Sara Ryder’s mind and it took everything within not to roll her eyes at the AI’s sage, yet entirely unwarranted advice. Diplomacy in Heleus was a slippery slope to navigate. Throw in incompatible technology between two very different races and the slippery slope became treacherous.  

[ _Thanks for stating the obvious,_ SAM _._ ]

Even through their private channel, Sara was certain that the AI received the glaringly obvious message that the AI was stating the obvious again and Sara just didn’t want to deal with the AI’s veiled attempt at being sarcastic.

It had become apparent very quickly that the Resistance commander was a real piece of work…when he wasn’t grunting at every second thing Sara said. For half a moment, Sara had thought that perhaps he and her twin-brother Scott would get along, until a snide comment, thinly veiled as a compliment nipped that idea straight in the bud. In fact, it was becoming easier to just tune out the grandstanding as the angara leader waxed poetic about Sara’s ‘good deeds’ and ‘services’ performed for the good of the angara and trying to mask her disdain.

For Sara, it was glaringly obvious that it was her and her crew that were the aliens, not the other way around. From what little she had gleaned from Jaal – the angara sent to keep an eye on the Tempest’s movements with a side bonus of Sara’s designated hit-man if she screwed up – the kett had abused the angara’s welcoming and trustful nature and they had suffered demonstrably for it. When the Tempest had almost crashed on the angara home world, Sara had been marched through the cloistered capital city at gunpoint…and Sara couldn’t blame them for it at all. Though she would be lying if Sara said that the words of hate flung at her by Aya’s citizens was tolerable. 

That one experience was enough to have her sympathize for the krogan plight for the rest of her life.

In Sara Ryder’s not-so-humble opinion however, the gruff and scarred Resistance Leader – Evfra was the icing on the cake of the model angara that you did not want to piss off. It was made very clear from the beginning of their uneasy working relationship, that the angara were one race that humanity – the Initiative in general – needed to have on their side. If the Imitative were to be successful, it was very clear that their success hinged on relations with the angara. Communications were hard enough, but Sara also didn’t need Evfra’s condescending bullshit along with the lingering distrust that accompanied a healthy dose of xenophobia.

“Look, my personal motto is ‘I got this’ and-” before Sara could finish what she was trying to say, Evfra cut her off; “you are bold and arrogant? Not unlike myself.” The translator stuttered as it processed Evfra’s words, but the meaning was made perfectly clear; and Sara couldn’t help the snort of amusement that escaped her.

[ _A useful reminder Pathfinder that antagonising the angara Resistance Leader could lead to them severing our alliance or your death._ ]

SAM reiterated and Sara continued to ignore the AI in her head. Yes, she needed to get into Aya’s vault and yes, Evfra was being stubborn and was dropping crumbs of information that Sara was gobbling up in an attempt to understand just what he wanted and needed from her. It was an understandable, if not annoying tactic; but first, it seemed Evfra had to ‘commend’ Sara’s abilities and then have the rest of their ‘conversation’ derail into demeaning the Initiative’s efforts.

Evfra de Teershav was about to receive a rude wake up call.   

“Respectfully, you need my AI to breach the kett shield. The additional processing power will bring them down quicker, give you more time. But to do that, you need me there – I want to be there.” 

Despite the stark differences in their races, the flash of surprise at Sara’s admission cracked through Evfra’s grumpy exterior, granting the pathfinder a temporary victory and the upper hand. The plight of the Resistance was a lost and dying one; as the days passed, the Kett were slowly but surely gaining more and more ground, despite the angara’s victories. But with an AI…it opened up success thousand-fold.

Jaal was the opposite of Evfra though; while his commander insisted on recovering the Moshae, Jaal had explained the Moshae’s importance and the keening loss that her abduction by the kett had had on the angara community. But not only that, it was something that Sara and her crew on the Tempest could understand; you didn’t fuck with family. Jaal at least seemed to have accepted that what the Andromeda Initiative wanted in exchange for the safe return of the Moshae was bigger than any of them: a life for the opportunity to give life to thousands. But that was the end game, for the moment – they were fighting for the angara people and Evfra just didn’t seem to grasp that novel idea.

So Sara waited, an eyebrow raised expectantly in tense silence, for the moment at least.   

“Honesty is what differentiates you from the kett. You are welcome on this mission.” This time, Sara did roll her eyes – of course Evfra would comment on her own arrogance, only to answer it with his own. To accompany her childish act, a sarcastic salute that Sara was positive that even her father would have approved of, but the simple word of thanks was genuine. With an unintelligible grunt, Evfra signed off and Sara turned her back to the projector, let out an irritated sigh of her own. 

“You have gained Evfra’s trust, that is no mean feat;” Jaal’s voice was low and even; Sara hadn’t even heard him come up into the conference area. Turning to face Jaal, Sara couldn’t help but snort; “I would call it a professional courtesy.” Jaal frowned, no doubt waiting for the translator software to catch up before

“You have gained Evfra’s trust, it is no mean feat,” he remarked and Sara snorted again, “I would call it professional courtesy” she offered instead. Jaal paused, no doubt waiting for his translator to catch up before continuing; “it is Evfra’s way. Excuse me, Pathfinder.”

With Jaal’s departure, came the ping of Sara’s omnitool and a quick glance revealed the parameters of the Moshae rescue mission that had been forwarded to her. Updating the Tempest’s new heading, Sara sucked in suddenly stale air and let it out slowly. They were headed back to freezing Voeld and this time, Sara wondered if they would be so lucky to escape with the Moshae.  

                                                                                                                     **************

Sara stood in her quarters, forehead pressed against the window pane, staring out into the black of space. It didn’t change, no matter where you where – the Milky Way or Andromeda, it was the same lonely inky blue-black of deep space, punctuated by the stars hundreds of light years away. The thought should have been comforting, but Sara had had her fair share of floating in the black and it was lonely. She shivered, suddenly cold and the armour that she still wore was doing nothing to stave off the sudden chill that had come over her. 

The sudden scorch of anger filled her and slapping her gloved palm against the glass before turning away to claw at the clasps on her kett – splattered armour, as hot tears burned down her cheeks until Sara was finally able to pry herself out of her armour. Ceramic pieces went flying as Sara flung them away, unable to bear the sight of the blue-blood that was spattered there. Now, more than ever Sara was missing her brother and her mother and strangely enough, even her father. But her father had left her the role of Pathfinder and it had become a heavy burden that no one wanted, along with a famed legacy that most people but her were willing to die for – when there was an unknown and pretty much unseen enemy out there, just waiting to divide and conquer the Initiative as they had the angara.

It was a fool’s thought to think that when the ark Hyperion had left the Milky Way, that they had left behind evil of any sort. But in that very moment, Sara ached for home and all the dangers and evil that came with it. Finally free from her armour and left only in her sweat soaked mesh suit, Sara stepped straight into the shower, turning up the heat until the steam from the scalding water clouded her vision and became a burning distraction.

Sara knew that she was doing everything wrong – every time she thought that some headway had been made – an inch had given on this impossible mission, she was always brought up short. Eos had been one of those inches, with the discovery of a terraforming network that was linked to dozens of planets through the Andromeda system. With that discovery, had come the possibility of a long term solution for the races that made up the Initiative. But the kett and their violent presence would not let them have that inch, responding in deadly force and no mercy.

Since her untimely revival in Andromeda, misfortune seemed to have followed Sara wherever she went. Hitting rock-bottom could have been at any point – from humanity’s trigger-happy meeting with the kett, to having the Tempest near crash-landing on Aya. Every day was starting to get harder and harder to keep going and then she had been forced to make a decision that would impact a society that Sara was not part of, nor did she truly understand it.

What Sara had seen in the kett facility was horrifying and most of all; it had really hammered home the impossibility of what Sara was attempting to do. The Moshae had rightfully brought her to task for her actions, accusing Sara and the Initiative for acting only for their own future gain. Sara didn’t deny the accusations – at the moment she was the sole hope for tens of thousands of people who would otherwise starve to death and in the moment of fire, the Moshae had rightful claim over the Cardinal. The cruelties that the Cardinal had imposed on the Moshae as he had orchestrated her death and the one liberty that anyone could have given the Moshae was to control the Cardinal’s fate and that, like so much else had been taken away from her. So Sara had stayed silent as the revered angara had lashed out at the strange alien who had swooped in behind the Moshae’s people to help save her.

Despite the justification of it all, it didn’t make the way any easier and Sara’s heart had ached for the cruelties that the Moshae had suffered at the hands of the kett. Her appeal to Evfra had been genuine, not that any angara would believe that her willingness to help was not only because Sara needed the angara’s cooperation, but because it was the _right_ thing to do. The Tempest was returning back to Aya, bouncing in and around the Scourge in attempt to stay out of the kett’s sights.

The Moshae was with Jaal in the med bay with Lexi and Sara was determined that they would not be disturbed, the crew had their own allocated downtime – heaven knew they needed it, but it also meant that Sara was left to her own devices…including dreading the upcoming conversation with Evfra de Teershav.  Undoubtedly the Resistance Leader would have his own thoughts on Sara’s conduct, just as the Moshae had and they were right too, anyone could see that, but Evfra would look at her with that sneer of condensation and dangle humanity’s strained alliance in front of her like a carrot.

But Sara couldn’t hide under the stream of a scalding hot shower forever and there was work to be done. They were a few hours out from Aya, still in FTL and there was no point in trying to sleep, so Sara opted for a distraction in the form of composing a scathing reply to Director Tann and reading the essay of material that Peebee had sent her on Rem-Tech.

The pinging on her omnitool jerked Sara from her unintended nap with the imprint of the keyboard on her cheek. Wanting to see the Tempest approaching Aya, Sara headed for the bridge and found Jaal with the Moshae, watching the Tempesting burning through the clouds. For anyone looking closely, they could see her grip on the rails was tight and the older angara shook slightly. Jaal nodded in Sara’s direction when she stepped up to the navigation console to see Kallo’s heading and she gave Jaal a tired smile in greeting when he came to stand beside her.

“How is the Moshae? …how are you?” Sara asked; her voice deceptively even and it was she that looked away first from Jaal’s unreadable gaze. “The angara will not forget what you have done for the Moshae and neither will she. We are thankful for what you did Pathfinder – Ryder,” Jaal’s words were more of a comfort than Sara had thought any words ever could be. The grimness of the situation that Sara thought she was facing on Aya seemed a bit lighter now and she touched Jaal’s shoulder for just a second before her hand dropped back to her side. The first vistas of the cliff-side city that was home to the angara were appearing and Sara let out a breath that she didn’t know that she had even been holding, “thank you Jaal, it means more than you could know.” 

 


	2. Two

The first time Sara had seen Aya, the Tempest had been on fire after a run in with the kett. Contact had been made, the systems were locked down and an escort sent to land with the Tempest. Despite all of the light-hearted jokes Sara had made about walking to her death at the hands of a crazy alien race, she had felt the very real prickle of fear. Instead, what Sara had found was the opposite of what she’d come to expect in Andromeda which so far was a cold and unfeeling galaxy. What they had found on Aya was strange yet familiar and it was heart-warming…when there wasn’t a gun pointed at her head.

The Initiative wanted an embassy on Aya and Sara had found herself in the somewhat precarious position to make that happen, in fact – she wanted it to happen. Trade, science and research…and according to Vetra – the black market – was waiting for the opportunity to extend to Aya and it was a benefit to them all to see such things flourish. But it wasn’t just resources and knowledge that Addison and the other bureaucrats wanted, they wanted the prowess of the angara military. The turian’s and Kandros would benefit the most from Angara military tactics, especially in their fight against the kett.

Luckily for Sara, the governor of Aya – Parrae Shareev saw the benefit of continuing relations with the Initiative and supported the idea of embassies on Aya and the Nexus. The Moshae had taken Sara to the control centre of Aya, after a fashion and the map – the terra-forming network that the Remnant had left behind that connected each planet in the Heleus cluster together pointed to one place; the Moshae called it Meridian, Sara was calling it hope. It was a puzzle and Sara had nearly all the pieces to put the puzzle together. 

There was always business of some description to deal with on Aya, but Sara had pushed her work pile aside to check on the Andromeda Initiative’s chosen ambassador, Rialla – who had been woken from cyro for this very purpose – and she found the pretty asari sitting beside locked doors, pacing with an armful of data pads and looking not happy at all.

“Pathfinder, you’re here. We have a problem,” Rialla turned and shot the locked doors a withering glare, as if that was all that was needed for the doors to his open. Turning back to Sara, Rialla let out an irritated sigh. “The governor signed off on the Initiative’s presence here on Aya, however…” however, Sara had heard all that she needed to know and she shook her head. Stonewalled over a xenophobic prejudice, in hindsight – she should have seen this coming; actions always spoke much louder than words ever would.

“What has the governor said?” Sara asked instead of asking just how many sticks Evfra had shoved up his arse this time. Rialla shook her head, “the governor’s office is unable to help – it is the resistance that needs to approve the Initiative’s presence on Aya. It is the final step in the proceedings to make diplomatic relations between the Nexus and Aya official.” Of course, it would be the final step – the resistance was the only thing between the kett and the angara, it was natural that the militia would have a say in politics as well. “This is a minor inconvenience, diplomacy isn’t all sunshine and roses, right?” Her question was rewarded with a stressed chuckle from Rialla.

 

Perhaps all of this was a test of some sort - to see how far the aliens would go to establish good relations before stabbing everyone in the back. Sara still couldn’t blame the angara for their mistrust, but the iron fist that the resistance had around everything was starting to become a hindrance rather than a very big blessing that she had thought it would be.

Maybe she should have asked Jaal to accompany her after all.

Despite her uncertainty on just how to approach this issue, short of causing an intergalactic incident, it didn’t stop Sara from marching to headquarters, her mouth set in a determined line and glaring at those on door duty who dared to try and stop her progress inside. At least the act of intimidation was still the same in a different galaxy – Sara could attempt to count on that at least when she was surrounded by trained soldiers.  

The resistance headquarters would never cease to amaze Sara. The set up rivalled any that Sara had seen back in the Milky Way. It was always organized chaos in any headquarters it seemed – no matter what galaxy you were in, but here there was a quiet sense of order. Whether that order was a testament to their leader’s organisation and delegating skills or the quiet determination of all who were working, was anyone’s guess. But it was admirable and a part of Sara was glad that she had the privilege to be a part of it.

“Pathfinder,” Sara turned at the greeting a scowl heavy on her face and got straight to the point. “Shutting us out is not going to help the Initiative or you. We’re here, so how about we work together and not stonewall each other” Sara told Evfra, omitting the ‘you stubborn fool’ from the last part of her sentence. Playing the diplomat was never in Sara’s job description, nor was she exactly level headed enough to be a good diplomat. Evfra de Teershav really had no idea just how much more smoothly; things would progress if it was Rialla greasing the wheels and not Sara. 

Meanwhile, Evfra was eying Sara like she was a bug that needed to be squashed immediately. Of course it was one thing to recover the Moshae and the resistance recruits who had been stuck on Voeld – but obviously advocating peace and trade between four different races was worse than hacking off a limb to stave off infection. It was the resistance that was doing the resisting and yet, if Sara pushed too hard they would lose this alliance and the Initiative would be worse off. Yes, Sara definitely should have brought Jaal with her, he was quite possibly the only angara that saw things from the Initiative point of view – he was useful in such a situation that Sara found herself in. 

“My people are not ready for the Initiative to be so visual on Aya.” Short, curt and dismissive – Sara almost preferred talking to Evfra on the vidcom. At least over vidcom, Sara could hide her disdain much easier. For now, she threw her hands upwards as she scoffed at what Sara considered a weak and empty excuse.   

“And when will the angara people ever be ready for this? Will it be tomorrow? Next week? Next year? You need Rialla here. You want – need the technology that we can offer.  We are looking for a home and we are willing to do almost anything for help to find that home, why would you turn that willingness away? ” Still, she could see cold stubbornness that was ironed into place. Evfra would not budge on this at least with her, Sara was sure of it.  There was no use in reminding the fool that Initiative scientists were on Aya and vice versa – this alliance would go ahead, no matter how hard Evfra fought it.

“The Nexus wants your people on the station for trade, for science…for everything and that means an ambassador for your people too.” Evfra shook his head, “no,” before walking away, effectively dismissing Sara.

Sara wasn’t sure which was more incensing: Evfra walking away or his clear dismissal of her opinion. Neither sat well with Sara at all and she wouldn’t let Evfra go on his way before reinforcing the important point that had brought her to the resistance headquarters in the first place. Governor Parrae wouldn’t be happy, but they had to look to the future and not at the present. At least, Sara hoped that was the right thinking to have. At least she had an audience that would hopefully speak up and say that Evfra struck first, when he tried to kill her.  

“Rialla T’Callas will be commencing her term as ambassador to Andromeda Initiative effective as today. She is your first point of contact for all correspondence with the Nexus, for now all militia concerns can be forwarded to me until the Nexus head of security, Tiran Kandros has delegated an appropriate contact.” Her statement had the effect that she wanted it to have; it had made the stubborn angara stop and activity had all but ceased at her loud announcement. But Sara had already turned and was making her way out of headquarters, belatedly realizing that she had just directly challenged Evfra’s authority. Yes, announcing this in public was a smart move.

Sara didn’t know what to expect – perhaps a bullet to the shoulder or a dozen angara tackling her to the ground trying to stop her. She was still breathing and her body was bullet less when she reached the street, but the fight wasn’t over just yet. Rialla was still standing beside her locked office, seemingly she had begun working outside - there were data pads stacked neatly on the wall of the garden bed. The asari opened her mouth and Sara gestured for Rialla to come with her, “we need to go speak with the governor yesterday.”

Their luck didn’t hold however, as Evfra was already in the governor’s office when they arrived and Shareev did not look impressed at all at the turn of events, not that Sara could blame her at all. The two angara were speaking so quickly that Sara’s translator couldn’t keep up, leaving her with only snippets to glean of the angry conversation. Rialla was behind her, hovering almost – waiting for her moment to intervene and take charge. Sara was starting to get hungry.

“While you’re at it, how about you inform Shareev on your thoughts that you believe that your people will not benefit from what the Initiative is offering – which is everything, just to remind you again; you both know why we are here. We have nothing to gain from not allying with you and your people. For not sharing the resources we have brought from our old home…there are scientists being brought out of cyro specifically to work with your scientists and you-“Sara shook a finger in Evfra’s direction, “you deny progress because your people aren’t ‘ready’? No one will ever be ready for this” Sara crossed her arms resolutely and raised a brow, waiting to hear Evfra’s inevitable rebuttal.

“Ryder is correct, after the kett – what they continue to do to us, there is no trust – nor will there ever be any restored for outsiders. The efforts the Initiative has given us have at least shown us and continue to show that their purpose is different to the kett.” Shaarev’s words were carefully chosen, no doubt appealing to Evfra and probably herself – not that she needed any reassurance on the matter at all.

Shelash was the official language that was being keyed into all Initiative omnitools, but what Evfra was now speaking to Shareev was one that had echoes of that language, but with stark differences. Jaal had started a ‘Shelash word of the day’ bulletin on the Tempest but it didn’t encompass the other dialects that he could speak. Undoubtedly, this change in dialect was for some additional privacy, which in Sara’s books was just plain rude. But then, Evfra had already made his opinion quite clear and Sara had a whole to do list that just wasn’t getting cleared fast enough…like finding a home world.

“While you two argue, I’ve got other issues to attend too – like the situation that you brought us into on Voeld. When you’ve finished, speak with my friend Rialla and she’ll take things from there.” Sara nodded her head to Shareev and ignored Evfra, deciding that she’d looked at him enough for one week.  

“Shareev, it’s always a pleasure – I trust that Rialla will accommodate any requests that your people have for the Initiative.” Rialla came forward then and Sara smiled at the asari. “Welcome to Aya, Ambassador Rialla” Sara said before making a hasty than was necessary departure.

When Sara finally made it back to the Tempest, arms full of data pads containing the history and laws of the angara and called for a course to be set to Voeld, she had a vidcall waiting from one resistance leader. Of course she took it immediately, wondering if Rialla was as steadfast as she seemed and had stuck her foot down….in a much more dignified and unified way than Sara would ever be capable of.

“I will not discuss sensitive military operations with any other of the Initiative, but I will with you pathfinder.” Sara wondered just how much of the commander’s pride had been spent to speak that sentence. Regardless, Sara could work with that – in fact she was quite certain that Kandros and Evfra would end up annihilating each other in some sort of war game, hopefully in the near future. She smiled sweetly at the image of Evfra de Teershav, brushing the pad of her thumb over the button that would disconnect the call.

“That wasn’t so hard to admit was it?” She asked Evfra with sweet triumph before she pressed the disconnect button.


	3. Three

The encrypted email debrief was detailed and straight to the point. Kadara Port was in the Charlatan’s hands now. Reyes had ensured that the transference of power into his hands was complete and there was no question about it. The only thing that hadn’t gone according to plan for the Charlatan was the bullet that Sara had personally put into his shoulder at the revelation of the fact that Reyes was the Charlatan and that he had used Sara and her status to usurp Sloane. Whilst Sara wouldn’t exactly say Sloane had it coming – the woman had been a nasty piece of work after all – but she really, really wanted to put another bullet in Reyes, this time his head.

Shooting Reyes Vidal had made Sara feel a little bit better about herself, even if the whole charade still stung her heart much more than it should have. The man had wormed his way through her defences and made her believe that she wasn’t as alone as she had thought. In hindsight, she supposed that she should have been wary when he’d danced with her in a nightclub that was notorious for selling addictive narcotics. The bullet to the shoulder had been a kneejerk reaction to the truth and even Sara admitted that she could have handled the situation better, but at least she’d never have to talk to the son of a bitch again. Keema Dohrgun, the face of the Charlatan was acerbic and well respected; a perfect choice to handle a port over run with pirates – she’d even give Aria t’Loak a run for her money.

But overall, Keema running the port would make the going easier with Evfra. The grouchy commander had given a couple of inches, with Sara’s consistent hammering, but cooperation with Keema to ensure the underworld port maintained a semblance of harmony with the rest of the cluster would be make Sara’s job  a whole lot easier. Especially now that the Initiative had a new outpost established on the planet which would spur even more traffic coming through the port.  

[ _Pathfinder, there is an incoming call on the vidcom_ ] SAM interrupted Sara’s musings. A quick glance at the clock told her that it was later than she had thought it was – which meant that it could only be one person and Sara was just itching to start a fight. It’d make her feel better at least. 

“Thanks SAM, I’m on my way.” Sara took her time – pulling on a pair of socks and pulling her damp hair up into a knot on top of her head and pulling on a jacket over her tank top. Better to portray the illusion of downtime, when in fact she was catching up on the back log of emails. She dallied a little longer, an experiment to see just how long Evfra would wait on call before demanding for her to hurry up. Eventually, she left the relative comfort of her quarters and headed up to the conference area, pressing the blinking receive button, Sara was blessed with a scowling Evfra.

“Ah, the illustrious Commander; what can I do for you?” Sara asked sweetly, delighting in the unimpressed scowl that she was met with – she’d kept Evfra waiting just long enough, it seemed.

“Your report was interesting and Keema Dohrgun contacted me directly, it seems at your directive?” If Sara didn’t know better there was some incredibility injected into his tone and Sara shook her head and bit down on her lower lip to resist stating the obvious: the further reach the Initiative and the Resistance made, the better they would be able to anticipate and prepare for the kett. The Resistance was a large military force and allied as they were with the Initiative, opened the Resistance up to the enemies that the Initiative had…and most of them resided on Kadara. 

“Well of course, Keema Dohrgun does get straight to the point.” The not so subtle jibe didn’t sit easy with the Angara, judging by the deepening scowl that was being portrayed over the vidcom. Sara had taken to ribbing Evfra over the vidcom, because she figured it wasn’t her that would be paying to replace his if he broke it in a fit of rage and having an intact spine was a safer and more practical enterprise to have. 

“Tell me, Pathfinder the human Sloane Kelly was doing an ‘ample’ job of governing the port before, was it your own personal connections that enacted the change in authority? My own spies report a different story.” Evfra’s reply was cutting and the fight that Sara wanted was clearly one that she was going to get. She chastised herself for thinking that her little tryst – if you could truly call it that – with Reyes had been discreet. Sara set Evfra with a hard glare, crossing her arms just to reiterate her point: “Then your spies would have told you that there are no personal connections whatsoever with the Charlatan. I work with Keema Dohrgun only,” she told the Angara and was rewarded with the rare flash of surprise that affirmed for Sara that Evfra hadn’t figured her out as much as perhaps he thought he had.

“But-“Sara continued, “but perhaps, instead of looking at what _I’m_ doing, perhaps you should look within your own organisation – you worked with Reyes Vidal for how long? How could the infallible Evfra de Teershav not know the alias of a Resistance trusted spy?” she kept her tone light, challenging even and she could tell that it had hit a considerable sore spot, judging from the thin line that Evfra’s lips were pressed into.

“And shooting one’s partner is an effective way to show that you can trusted?” Evfra was struggling now – Sara had successfully managed to metaphorically back Evfra into a corner, beating the angara at his own game. “Now that we have successfully established that I have bad standards in those I consider appealing and you are not infallible as you like to think, is there anything else I can do for you tonight Commander?” Sara asked glibly. It was better to nip this conversation in the bud – for some reason Evfra’s comments hadn’t sat right with her and she did want to get to bed.

“No Ryder… the Resistance wanted to be sure that there was no…compromise.”  Sara didn’t miss the brief pauses and an eyebrow raised in interest at what wasn’t being said. Evfra de Teershav did not pause and he didn’t call her by her name. She stood with her hand had been poised over the console, ready to end the connection so she could have the last word. She hesitated, glancing first at the console and then back at the feed.

“We are learning more about each other’s people every day, but one thing we share is honesty with our partners. Reyes Vidal lied and consequently I shot him for his deception and manipulation.  Good night, Evfra.” Sara looked up from the console and was taken aback at the shadow of a smile that had appeared on Evfra’s face. Shaking her head, she disconnected and headed back to her quarters. It occurred to Sara, as she settled down to sleep that Reyes Vidal’s betrayal didn’t matter as much anymore.


	4. Four

Sara wondered if spacing Liam was still going to be an option.

The Tempest was pulling into Aya, so not only could they debrief both the Initiative and the Resistance, but to get the right treatment for Liam’s friends who had been knocked about a bit more than was necessary in the resulting firefight that Liam had also gotten them all dragged into.

Oh yeah, they’d also hijacked a salvaged Kett ship which was orbiting Aya and undoubtedly causing a planet wide panic... even though they were broadcasting that the ship was under Initiative control with shuttles and specific signals as well as Sara radioing ahead specifically to spare a planet-wide panic. 

For the moment at least, Liam’s contact Verand and her friends were being seen too by Lexi and Liam was safely packed away in storage. After the hot water he had helped land them in, Sara had garnered much satisfaction at pulling rank and ordering Liam to stay on ship until Sara had ensured no one shot him on sight. With Aya rapidly approaching, Kallo announced their landing and Sara stood up from her terminal, her omnitool pinging that medical help was waiting- and made for the med bay where Lexi was fretting. “Lexi, they’re waiting for us in the docking bay”

Those seemed to be the magic words that pulled the asari out of her fretting. With loud directions, the med bay became a flurry of activity and Sara slipped out unnoticed, making her own way off the ship. Peebee joined Sara for the walk through Aya – Sara’s way of putting off what she felt was the inevitable. Eventually though, they ended up outside the Resistance Headquarters. At least nowadays the guards who stood lookout there greeted her with a wary nod instead of outright hostility. It was here Peebee wandered off on her own way, leaving Sara to face the music alone – to date she was still the only Initiative member allowed inside. The doors hissed open and Sara began to count in her head; just as she used to do when her brother had gotten himself in a sticky spot and she had to pull him out of trouble; which meant they both got into trouble. 

This time, it wasn’t her father who was going to yell at her, this time it was a grumpy angara who had an army and the ability to silently kill her in her sleep. Sara decided that if she could go back in time, she’d reassure her fourteen year old self that Evfra was the scarier option.

“Ryder!” Evfra’s deep voice echoed through the near silent headquarters and Sara stopped counting at eighty-three. One breath in and out. Slowly exhaling, Sara fixed her gaze on the fuming Angara with a steady gaze, “good to see you too Evfra.” 

“Good to see you’?” Evfra’s question was followed by a stream of Shalesh that was undoubtedly curses in her direction. “You asked on information on the pirate organization Talon Wing and then radio silence? And next I know there is a kett ship is coming into orbit with Initiative shuttles accompanying it. This isn’t a social gathering.” The Resistance leader paused and Sara arched a brow wondering if that was all she was going to hear. When no words came, she realized Evfra was uncharacteristically waiting for her to explain.  

“Liam Kosta is an idiot?” she offered and Evfra made a strangled noise, half way between an angry grunt and half spoken words. Sara sighed, she wasn’t exactly sure if the angara could have a coronary but she was certain that Evfra was getting pretty close to it. “Liam Kosta is an idiot and potentially threatened the security of the Nexus and the Resistance.” Sara finally blurted out, so quickly that she almost hoped that Evfra wouldn’t ask her to repeat herself. Her luck wasn’t holding though – maybe she shouldn’t have hung up on Calot for the sixth time. But as quickly as she considered that, she dismissed the thought – hanging up on Calot when he was trying to embrace every stereotype for evil pirate had been worth it. 

“Ryder,” Her name coming off of Evfra’s lips was low and dangerous and Sara fought the shiver that crawled over her skin. The next moment, she was being steered towards the office – his grip firm on her upper arm. This was it, the beginning of the end. “Start from the beginning,” Evfra ordered when the doors had hissed shut and Ryder rubbed her arm where Evfra had clutched it tightly.

“Well…Kosta had good intentions, but then they ended up in the hands of pirates and here we are?” Again, Sara tried to deflect. It was all in vain, trying to trivialize the situation since nothing much would get past Evfra and judging by his pacing, she was going to have to elaborate. Sure enough when the angara finally ceased, he was looking positively murderous. Sara didn’t back down, her earlier sheepishness replaced by a recklessness that was probably half the reason she found herself in her current situation. 

“Ryder every time you deflect my questions, you become more and more vexing.” There were a number of words that Sara would use to describe herself and Scott had a number of others to add to them, but vexing had never been one of them. In fact, she’d personally describe herself as an upbeat, with a mean sense of humour.  

“Vexing? Well that’s the pot calling the kettle black. You could be a little bit easier to work with” Sara shot back, suddenly frustrated. “Pot, kettle black-“Sara cut Evfra off. “It’s a bloody idiom!” she cursed back, turning away to face the large windows that highlighted Aya’s natural beauty. There were few places on Earth that could compare to Aya and Sara had never been to any of them – sure she had explored the planet via the extranet, but she had never been there. It was little wonder that the angara cycled their stay there – everyone could share what Aya had to offer them that way…and here she was, granted the privilege with a few very big strings attached.

“Thousands of years ago on Earth, there was a group of people that infiltrated an enemy city by hiding in a structure of an earth creature called a horse. The city was called Troy and from then on the act of sneaking like those humans did was called a Trojan horse.” Turning away from the window and leaned against it. “So that’s what we did, we locked ourselves into a shipping container and blasted ourselves into a debris field and waited for pirates to pick us up. When we came out of the container, we found ourselves on the repurposed kett ship that’s currently in your possession.”

“And what exactly was the point of this ‘Trojan horse’?” Sara ignored the question; it was irrelevant for the moment.

“And then we met that asshole Calot that has an inferiority complex and long story short, the asshole tried to space us and then the gravity failed and everything was turned upside down.” Evfra interrupted Sara before she could continue – “and what exactly is an asshole?” he asked dryly. Sara snickered then, wondering if introducing Evfra to Lexi and having her explain the crass word would be worth the resulting nuclear fallout with Lexi.

“Can I finish?” Sara asked exasperated and Evfra scowled as he begrudgingly gestured for Sara to continue. But as she continued on, getting deeper into the story, Sara realized just how ridiculous the whole coup d'état had been. Sure, Liam would have to be disciplined for the breach of security and sharing sensitive information, but all things considering – they were alive, Verand and her crew were being patched up _and_ they had a kett ship to examine and mine information and data from.

One day, they’d look back on this and they’d all be laughing, Sara was sure of it and judging from Evfra’s silent pacing that wasn’t dotted with curses, it seemed like he was seeing it the same way. 

“All things considered, it was a success. A dangerous pirating ring disbanded and a Kett ship in the Initiative and Resistance hands…”Evfra trailed off, another first as he resumed his pacing. Sara sighed and touched the Angara’s hand in a brave venture that may or may not result in her hand being cut off.

“Look, let me tell you about the Trojan War and then you can understand the pure strategic genius of locking ourselves into a container and blasting ourselves into space,” she told him as if she were placating an irate varren. Evfra shifted, or perhaps jerked at the contact but to Sara’s surprise didn’t jump away immediately at the contact. Her brow furrowed. “Come on, it’s more ingenious than you realize, we could hit the kett with it” Sara added – trying to appeal to an angry angara was harder than she thought – maybe she should get a hold of some varren treats and see if that worked.

But Evfra surprised Sara when he stalked off, turning on his heel to gesture for her to follow him – he’d been doing it a lot lately, surprising her that was. She followed Evfra through a side passage that had been hidden in the far right wall, her hand resting in her pocket ready to whip out her knife to defend herself in case that this was indeed, actually the beginning of the end. She didn’t expect the passage to open out to an under croft that over looked the waterfalls, nor did she expect the racks of weapons that littered the area either – they were in a shooting range and it was pretty impressive. Evfra was waiting for a reaction of some sort from her however and with a quick side glance, Sara quickly surveyed the area before picking her spot and lowering herself to the floor, raising an eyebrow and patting the spot beside her until he joined her. 

                                                *                               *                              *

Five days later, Evfra emerged from his quarters, eyes blinking away sleep after being alerted by the guard outside of headquarters that they had a visitor. Trussed up on the floor on the doorstep of resistance headquarters was an angara that the Resistance had been after because of his affiliation with Akksul for some time. Further inspection of the trussed up angara revealed a data pad secured to his front. Pulling it free, Evfra scanned the files on the data pad – all human in origin – and a note from Sara Ryder: 

_Evfra,_

_Here’s some light reading, for those late nights playing security guard._

_I also found this dude on Erradan; I heard you were wanting to talk to him._

_\-- Sara_

 

Data pad in hand, Evfra grunted instructions for the informant’s fate until a more suitable hour came around for interrogation. Retreating back to his quarters, Evfra stared at the data pad before flicking through the files and selecting one at random; he sat down on his bed and began to read after sending off a quick email.

When Sara Ryder emerged from her shower, hair dripping and feeling refreshed after rinsing the left over grime from the firefight she’d just participated in, she found her terminal blinking with a new message. Evfra had clearly received her care package or her apology – however you wanted to look at it and she couldn’t help the wide grin that crossed her face at the message that she’d received in return. She would have to remember to tell Evfra that SAM had really outdone itself with the translations and now Liam was now sporting a hefty bruise on his face. 

 


	5. Five

Shit was going down on Voeld.

And whilst Sara wasn’t exactly aware what was going down other than the Resistance needed some serious firepower, she figured it was major shit if they were picking up Evfra from some backwater planet that the Resistance used as an outpost which was far enough away that they may as well be across the other end of the cluster.

It was also where the APEX troops Sara had called in for back up met them with the shared coordinates. It was the first time that the angara and really seen the extent of the discipline and rigidity of the turn military – which Vetra couldn’t help pointing out to Sara when introductions were made. This unfamiliarity also meant that Vetra spent a majority her time concealing her amusement and elbowing Sara rather painfully in the side. In fact, the moment they had broken atmo, the smuggler had made herself scarce – probably to fully let loose her amusement.

With the Tempest acting has the command centre; it also meant that Sara had to share a ship with Evfra. Thankfully however, Jaal had elected himself tour guide and Sara had no problem with that arrangement at all. Especially since galley duty had rotated and she was playing chef for the day. With an excuse for successfully dodging Evfra in place, Sara made for the galley where Drack had made himself home; the potent sell of gun oil was heavy in the air as he methodically cleaned his shot gun. At least the smell of the oil would over power whatever concoction Sara came up with this time.

The Tempest crew had found that their Pathfinder wasn’t the best of cooks, even if the food was tasty. The visual appeal was unfortunately not over desirable and more often than not the smell could be a little bit frightening.  With supplies running low, it also limited Sara’s culinary tricks even further. While Sara puttered away, Drack regaled her with stories of Tuchunka – the old krogan could always keep her entertained with violence and gore after all. It was a suitable distraction from the very real one – Evfra on her ship. Evfra, the angara that Sara had developed a very real attraction for.

Vat beef stew was Sara’s go to for that night and combined with the stench of oil; it made the kitchen smell like a foul murder had gone down. Kallo wandered in – to prepare food for himself and Vetra and immediately backed up and returned the way he had just come, just as the doors hissed back close, Sara caught Kallo’s mutterings which described Sara’s dextro meal being the death of them all.   

Drack cackled in his seat as he snapped the last remaining pieces of his shot gun back together and Sara chuckled weakly. Turning back to pot of plop, Sara turned the heat down and plunked a ladle into her concoction and stepped away from the stove just as Kallo’s voice came over the com. “For the dextro inclined, our invincible Pathfinder has concocted a new atrocity. For those who value their sense of smell, this evening’s meal should not be consumed in the Tempest’s eatery.”

Drack’s cackles turned into long guffaws as Sara shook her head as she crossed to the com in the kitchen. “For the dextro inclined, tonight’s meal will be served on the bridge, with our esteemed pilot providing tonight’s entertainment. Come on down and enjoy your dose of slop and regret” Sara was positive that the com’s microphone picked up Drack’s peals of laughter.

“Kiddo, you give an old krogan life,” Drack told her with a clap on her back that sent tremors all the way through to Sara’s feet. Spooning up a helping of her own of regret, Sara followed Drack out of the galley where they were greeted with a rush of cool and refreshing air and Sara made a mental note to air out the galley when everyone was sleeping.  

She ran into Jaal and Evfra on her way up to the bridge. Kandros had sent a message through confirming the position of APEX on Voeld and she needed Evfra’s input before giving a definitive answer. Sara was beginning to learn some of their finer tactics that were somewhat effective against the kett and those were the ones that yielded some results and whilst she had an idea where she would send them – she wouldn’t do so without discussion with Evfra at least. Whilst Sara was confident that Evfra wouldn’t kill her in her sleep, she wasn’t exactly confident that he would be happy with her decisions when it was technically him that was leading the mission.

“Are you both good for dinner? There’s plenty of slop and regret if you decide to give Milky Way cuisine another go” Jaal grinned at Sara’s question. Jacob and Sumi had gotten it into their heads to do a food swap with Jaal.  After Lexi had completed the vigorous testing that cleared the paste that angara’s consumed fit for human consumption, the results of the experiment had been both amusing and interesting. The paste was bland by human standards, but Jaal had found the meal that Peebee had prepared – which was spicy by Asari standards – to be tasteless.

“We have eaten, Ryder.” Evfra said and Sara rolled her eyes and waggled her soup cup in his direction. “Nah, try my regret you’ll feel great after one spoonful.” Evfra shook his head but Sara caught the ghost of a smile and Sara couldn’t help the grin of triumph. “Jaal, do you mind if I borrow your esteemed leader? We need to discuss some pathfinder-y and military things, ya know?” Her question was also more code for: ‘we’re probably going to argue about the best way to approach this shit-fight, so we better do it somewhere no one can hear us.’

[ _Ryder, may I suggest that you move your discussions to your quarters – I can project everything you will need in there._ ] SAM was right in a way – if they were going to start blissfully debating, it was best done where no one could really hear them – appearing united when they clearly weren’t was not something they could afford to show half of the Andromeda system. That thought was really starting to bother Sara. SAM had offered it’s insight not that Sara had found it overly helpful, she was tiring of constantly trying to prove herself trustworthy to Evfra. Every time she felt she had made leeway, Evfra shoved her eight steps backwards.

Falling into step beside Sara, she showed Evfra through to her quarters.  “SAM can ensure no eavesdroppers in here.” Without waiting for an answer, Sara crossed to where SAM’s console was integrated into the Tempest opposite from her desk and started typing commands into her omnitool. A hologram of Voeld appeared where SAM’s node would have sat and Sara decided to cut to the chase. “What’s really going on Evfra? I – _we_ can’t help if the Resistance isn’t open with us.”

“It is time sensitive, with the security breaches that the Initiative has experienced it was decided that censoring any information shared was a necessity.” It was a reasonable justification anyone could see that, but for some reason it just seemed to shine light on the elephant in the room that just wasn’t going away: Evfra’s trust issues that were borderline xenophobic.  

“And me? Am I lumped in with the rest of the Initiative? I can see your reluctance – working with aliens who came out of nowhere, but haven’t I at least earned some sort of your trust?” Her question was breathy with desperation, which Sara hated in that moment but she wasn’t backing down at all now that the topic had been brought up. Evfra’s hesitation to answer was all Sara really needed to know and it only heightened her irritation.

“If I’m going to be the only one that you will allow to handle sensitive militia matters when it comes to angara and Initiative relations then you need to at least tell me what’s going on, this isn’t kindergarten and we’re not fighting over the playground, you’re playing with people’s lives when you pull this shit Evfra!” Sara thought she’d gotten her point across perfectly – Evfra was being childish and she was sick of it.

It also seemed to be the same for her counterpart, who towered over her whenever he was given half the chance.

“You are infuriating, Sara Ryder. Not only do you challenge everything I say and do, you speak in riddles and your recklessness and inability to follow orders –“Sara cut the infuriated Angara off before he could continue with a comprehensive list of faults that pissed him off. “Since we’re pointing out personality flaws allow me to indulge a couple of your own? Grumpy, uncooperative, your own bullheadedness has made _our_ jobs harder, not to mention your mistrustfulness” Her hand whipped out, slipping into the pocket where she knew Evfra kept a knife handy and his hand wrapped around her wrist, no doubt on reflex. He was fast, but Sara was smaller and her reach would extend further.  

“When the Tempest almost crash landed into Aya and you let Jaal convince you to send him with us, you told me that Jaal was there to kill us in our sleep if we turned out to be like the kett. Well now you’re in the Human Pathfinder’s quarters – with everything you ever need to destroy the Initiative is here for your taking.”  She wrested for the knife, trying to force the angara’s hand and for once he didn’t fight her and Sara let out a bitter chuckle – it was outrageous and over the top what she was doing, but it was the only way she could see about getting her point across.

“I can’t even pretend to understand what happened to you – what the kett did to you. I can understand why you don’t trust the Initiative and I’m not asking you to trust them – I don’t trust them either. I’m asking you to trust me” Evfra pushed back then, taking a step forward and looming over her as he took back possession of his knife, pushing it deep into the folds of his cloak. His hand still clutched hers, Sara could feel her breathing quicken as Evfra’s free hand came up to softly finger at a tendril of hair that had escaped the messy ponytail that she had put it in.

“Sara Ryder you are infuriating, you challenge me and I desire you” Sara was lost in Evfra’s gaze, his fingers trailed over her jaw and traced along the exposed line of her neck, leaving goose flesh with each gentle caress. Sara’s fingers had entwined with Evfra’s, somehow familiar and foreign all at once. His breath was warm on her cheek, Sara could feel the ghost of his lips against hers – it was easy to just tilt her head, just that little bit more and their lips connected. A strong arm wrapped around Sara’s back, pulling her into Evfra’s embrace as they kissed with a desperation that they both didn’t know existed.

“Pathfinder, Tiran Kandros is waiting on vidcom.” SAM blessedly announced through the com and not through their private channel. It also meant that Evfra pulled away from her, his face unreadable. The only sign that Sara could see that he had been affected by their furious make out session was his heaving chest. It was Sara who stepped away, biting her lip and looking away as her heart thrummed in her ears as she ached with lust. “That…shouldn’t have happened,” Sara finally said; her voice odd and Evfra grunted in agreement. Sara pushed forward, the doors hissing open and she paused, turning back to glance at Evfra who met her gaze heavily. 

“I want it to happen again.”


	6. Six

Movie night was ramping up.

Each time Liam’s Movie Night was postponed – because bad timing was a bitch – the Tempest crew conjured up more and more inclusions that turned the simple exercise of uniting the crew into a big party. Sumi’s suggestion for snacks was a good one, but it had fallen through when she’d made snacks using ingredients native to Heleus and everyone but Jaal had not so discreetly spit out. Vetra had come through with some contacts of hers on Kadara and had rectified that problem with dextro and levo snacks plus random oddities for Jaal.

But now Sara was tasked with hunting down a projection system that Jaal had suggested. Based on Jaal’s enthusiastic descriptions, it was the angara equivalent to the 4D amusement systems that were back in Sol. Over a game of poker, she’d mentioned Jaal’s idea to Gil and the engineer had built on Jaal’s idea with renewed enthusiasm, even going so far as to forward a proposed plan of adjustments to the Tempest for Sara’s approval. But before Gil could work his magic, Sara had to acquire the angara equivalent of a home entertainment system.

It was why she was lurking in Aya’s market place in her own downtime. For once she didn’t have any pressing business here – though she did have a meeting with Rialla scheduled for later in the day. The last she’d heard from Kandros was that he was trading reluctant emails with Evfra, but the grumpy commander still would only defer to Sara for sensitive matters – it was progress, as little as it was at least. But for all the progress Sara was making in the diplomatic arena, she was making little progress sin acquiring an angara home entertainment system so her engineer to could turn her space ship into a 4D movie theatre. The Tempest didn’t have a gun, but it would have fabulous surround sound? Sure, Sara would just blast heavy earth rock at the kett and maybe they’d go away from her bad taste in music alone.

Sara’s omnitool pinged, making her notice just how much time she’d spent waiting for a particular merchant to reappear with an answer to her query of getting the tech for her ship. But the longer she waited, the more tempted Sara was to just go to Kadara Port – the merchant hadn’t been exactly accommodating either and pulling a gun on a merchant in Kadara made things happen.

Flicking open her inbox, Sara saw the recipient of the email and dubiously tried to ignore it.

Since Voeld, Sara hadn’t really spoken with Evfra de Teershav – which was its own blessing and curse. With Kandros gaining ground with the surly angara, Sara was left more and more to her own pathfinder-ly tasks as well as her traitorous memory, which liked to centre on the outcome of their latest argument. It was easier to stare seemingly disinterested at the plastic pot plant that Suvi had put in the conference area and ignore Evfra on the few vidcalls she’d shared with him and Kandros than looking at his projected image and remembering the smooth swipe of his tongue on her bottom lip or his hard body pressed against hers.

Sara bit her lip and cast a glance down the way that would take her to resistance headquarters. There was no reason to go there, playing with fire was a bit of a hobby for Sara lately, but ignoring Evfra was the safe- life preserving option…more for her underworked libido than anything else. Luckily for her, the merchant she had been bartering with for the tech she needed reappeared from out the back of her shop and with a curt nod agreed to Sara’s offer. The sound timing also gave Sara an excuse to ignore her inbox so she could initiate the credit transfer, which was a lot more than what she’d been wanting to spend initially.

With the transaction cleared, all that was left was for Sara to direct the delivery to the docking bay that the Tempest was sitting in. Not that you could really miss her, even from the marketplace you could see the light reflecting off of the sleek hull.

Sara had logged the Tempest to depart Aya the next morning, letting the crew have a little liberty – they’d been away from the Nexus for much longer than Sara would have liked, but like most things; time was continuously getting the better of them and just when they all thought they could head back to the space station, something else or an emergency always came up. It was one of the reasons why Sara had let the idea of movie night and the preparations for it run rampant amongst the crew. It kept them busy, it provided a distraction and most of all, and it kept morale up.

With her most pressing business complete, Sara was left to entertain herself, but then her omnitool pinged again with another incoming message. An eyebrow rose at the audacity of it all and before she could really overthink the situation at hand; she’d turned on her heel and was marching towards headquarters –whilst the message from Evfra wasn’t exactly an order, the language was close enough that Sara construed it as one…and Sara had a big problem with that.

Especially since she’d been replaying that heated exchange between the two of them in her mind constantly for the past week or so and was one step short of putting a soundtrack to it.  

Command for the Resistance was bustling with activity on this particular day – one of the busiest that Sara had seen it since she had been granted access as an ally. It didn’t take long to spot the angara in question that she was seeking out to give a piece of her mind – Evfra stood at the main console, undoubtedly issuing orders. It was a show of respect for his position as commander that stopped Sara from marching up to him and interrupting, but she didn’t –instead having her presence announced that she was waiting to for Evfra in his office.

“Ryder,” her name coming from Evfra’s lips would never cease to make Sara want to sigh like some giggling high school girl. But she didn’t, instead she whirled around from where she had been staring out the window and rested her hands on her hips.

“So, I’m here and just to let you know, I don’t make it a habit to be at anyone’s beck and call” Sara told Evfra, sarcasm dripping from her words. Seemingly indifferent as always, Evfra shook his head and beckoned her to follow him.

“You do realize, almighty commander that I have better things to do than indulge you?”  Sara asked rudely – she was trying to get a rise from Evfra and yet it wasn’t working – something, anything to have him react like he had back on the Tempest. If anything, it almost seemed like Evfra was regarding her with barely disguised amusement. Evfra stepped forward, his hand covering her mouth when Sara opened her mouth again.

“I have something that may be useful for you, though why you want angara technology of this nature is puzzling,” Sara frowned at his words – surely Evfra didn’t know about her search for the angara home entertainment system for the betterment of her crew? With a knowing nod, Evfra gestured out the window, where the Tempest could be seen within the distance.

“Your ship should have received it by now…it is a better system than the one you purchased today.” Evfra’s hand was still covering her mouth, keeping her silent though not for Sara’s lack of trying. Though since it still hadn’t been explained how Evfra knew about her quest for a home entertainment system in the first place, she reached up and yanked his hand away from her mouth.

“Jaal has interesting ideas,” Sara said instead and Evfra nodded. “In any case, what I’ve had sent to the Tempest will be more suitable for your needs.” As if Gil had heard Evfra’s sentiment, Sara’s omnitool pinged – the subject relaying the engineer’s excitement was all Sara had to really read.

“Kosta had the idea of a movie night…then we had to postpone it and then Suvi and Vetra proposed snacks and now Jaal and Gil are going to install a home entertainment system into my ship,” Sara finally muttered. Fingers squeezed around hers and Sara looked down at her and Evfra’s joined hands. “What you are doing for your crew, it is good – Jaal commented on the plans you had made, our requisitions is much more effective than the market,” Sara couldn’t help but snort at the irony of it all. Of course, the local military could get something as trivial as a home entertainment system, but never the less…

“Thank you for your help, it means a lot” Sara mumbled again, somewhat distracted by the thumb stroking hers and she lifted their hands and ghosted her lips across Evfra’s knuckles.


	7. Seven

She’d pushed on until even SAM couldn’t keep Sara standing.

The kett were spattering them with gunfire and the Archon’s words were ringing in her ears despite the chaos. The Paachero had run clear of the kett ship and pathfinder Raeka’s com had gone silent.  Kallo’s voice was urgent over the radio and she couldn’t hear what the pilot was saying. Vetra had retreated onto the Tempest and Sara stumbled up after the turian, falling to her knees when she was inside. The metal was cold underneath her touch and now SAM’s voice was echoing a rushing roar, which to Sara could only be the Tempest’s engines. Vaguely it occurred to Sara that she was in shock, yet there was an important thought – some important piece of information that Sara needed to remind herself of but it refused to come to mind.

SAM’s voice was still echoing around her and now it was in her head again and Sara couldn’t think. It was easier to just lie down – something was telling her that that was the best thing to do. She pressed her cheek against the cool metal as calls of her name joined the sounds reverberating in her skull. SAM was still talking even though the AI’s words were blurring together into a seamless monotone of noise. Someone helped her sit upright, cradling her head in their large palm and a deep, croaking voice joined the AI’s: ‘come on kiddo, where’s that quad you keep bragging about?’

Sara stared at the krogan that had picked her up, heavy steps were vibrating through her and Sara tried to arrange the thoughts flying through her mind into a cohesive sentence. There was a hiss of doors opening and the first thing that Sara noticed was that the air was cooler. A familiar face suddenly appeared and Sara was let down, lying on her back. Someone was fiddling with the clasps on her armour. The familiar face reappeared when the first pieces of armour were removed, a calming hand resting on Sara’s sweaty shoulder.  “Rest now, Sara. You’ll feel better when you wake up.” Lexi’s voice was soothing even if her expression didn’t agree with her words and for once Sara listened.

 _Sara sweetie, it’s time to wake up._ It was her mother, the gentle shake on her shoulder and the brush of her lips on Sara’s forehead – always the same greeting that could always coax Sara from the deepest sleep. Sara moaned, turning on her side and a hand brushed through her hair.

_Sara Ryder, wake up._

The stern voice that was so familiar had Sara struggling to open her eyes. It took a moment for her to recognize where she was – it was most certainly not the Tempest. But she had been here once before – she was back on the Hyperion, in SAM node and she couldn’t shake the ghostly memory of her mother shaking her awake – déjà vu it seemed.

“Ryder, welcome back.” SAM spoke and Sara shifted, swinging her feet off of the bed and testing her weight on them. “What happened to the Paachero?” she asked quietly before the AI could report on her wellbeing. She didn’t want to know what had happened to her body when she had allowed SAM to kill her – it was necessary but an out of this world feeling and before that…the AI had manipulated her vocal cords, allowing her voice to produce the intonation that was unique to the kett. Involuntarily a hand rose to her throat, blunt fingernails digging into the skin and muscle of her neck almost as if she were going to rip the delicate muscles out.

“It would be in your best interests to not stop me, human.” Somehow that familiar voice rang through SAM node, despite the doors being shut and Sara sighed, yet she didn’t relinquish the near stranglehold that she had on her throat. Sara just sat where she was, staring at the ball of plasma light that was the physical representation of SAM as the horrors that she had witnessed on the Archon’s ship relived themselves in her mind. Nor could she shake the words on those audio logs that described the dissection of the salarian as a species, the speculation on the asari and turians and the puzzlement over humanity. Alec Ryder had spoken of such evil and Sara herself had witnessed the effects of it…but the coldness and the calculating ruthlessness – the exaltation of Drack’s scouts and what that could mean for the fight ahead…Sara shivered and curled up on the bed as tears began to stream from her eyes. It was not just what the Kett would do to them all – Sara had a front row seat to the Kett brutality, but to her as well. What the Archon now knew because of what she had been forced to do to keep them all alive.

Her fingers dug tighter into her neck as Sara let out a choking sob just as the doors hissed open and the argument outside of SAM node was suddenly much louder. Sara squeezed her eyes shut, trying to drown it all out. “It is in the Pathfinder’s best interests that he be admitted, Pathfinder Ryder has given her permissions” SAM’s voice rang out silencing the arguing voices and Sara stifled her sobs – she couldn’t let anyone see her in this state, not on the Hyperion especially.

“Ryder you will come with me.” Her eyes flashed open, sight blurred with tears and Evfra’s form just discernible. The command however was one that she knew she should follow, even if it stung her pride for the angara to see her in such a state. Sara stood on unsteady feet and her arm wrapped protectively around her middle. Evfra was beside her, tall and foreboding an unspoken reminder that he knew the horror that she was reliving. Another sob escaped her lips and her fingernails clawed at her throat and she managed to whisper “I sounded like one of them”. Evfra scrutinised her, always unrelenting and unfeeling. But this time, she saw it, the glimmer of something softer.  

He touched her elbow, a persistent touch as he guided her out of SAM node – the AI had curiously gone silent since SAM had admitted Evfra. Moving through the Hyperion and then the Nexus was a blur and Sara couldn’t focus on anything other than her own breathing, trying to contain herself and save face where others would see her. Only when they had stepped onto the unfamiliar ship, did Evfra break his stern exterior. Fingers brushed her hair off of her face, tilting her chin so her eyes met his concerned ones.

“We are going to Aya. It was suggested by your doctor for when you woke up.” Leaning heavily on the taller male, Evfra guided Sara through the ship until they came to a door that hissed open, revealing modest quarters. Sara slowly pulled off her jacket and sunk onto the cot, the angaran bedding providing an unexpected amount of comfort, the scent that lined the sheets was familiar and safe. It was only when the door hissed closed behind Evfra did Sara realize that it was him she smelt.

Sara awoke to her ship approaching land on Aya on a different side that Sara wasn’t familiar with. It was another side of Aya that one didn’t see when one journeyed to the city, the forest was dense, punctured only by the lines of water that snaked through it.  The landing was tricky, one that Sara was certain Kallo would have loved to have attempted himself, she didn’t know why they had landed here but she was near content to just simply stare out of the port side window. But then the door slid open and Evfra was there, telling her to suit up – they were going out into that wilderness.

The both of them had set off into the forest  at a fast pace that Sara had to work to keep up with. It was just them both, surrounded by the forest and the creatures that inhabited it. The air was cool, despite the suns climbing higher and higher above them and the gentle breeze that pushed through the forest carried a sweet perfume. The moisture from a waterfall clung to the her face and bare arms and yet Sara still didn’t understand why they were here or where exactly they were going. After waking up in SAM node and being brought to Aya, Sara had spent most of her time sleeping in the Resistance quarters. It was normal – Lexi had told her, when SAM had stopped and restarted her heart, her body had gone into shock. Lexi couldn’t be sure if such a reaction was normal because there was no one before Sara that would have had their heart stopped and started by an AI and had a medical team on standby to report the side effects.

When Evfra finally came to a stop – they were at the bottom of the waterfall. Sara let out the breath she didn’t realize she had been holding and asked the question that had been burning since they had set out. “Why are we here?”

Evfra whirled around from where he had been staring out over the water. He hadn’t said much to Sara and she had come to prefer the near silence between them. But his concern had been shown in other ways – he would cup her cheek in the morning when he brought her breakfast or tangle his fingers in her hair when he thought she were sleeping. She never said anything and the stoic angara never brought it up.

But her question was answered with a stream of curses that Sara easily ignored because that was what they did. “You chose to die Sara, so you could escape the Kett and you lived” and the crack of emotion was what made Sara look away. How could she explain that it was easy to give that decision to SAM – to trust that the AI would still have her back even after it had stopped her heart because there had been nothing to lose when they had been trapped in that force field? Scott’s SAM implant was active, he would carry on her work if she had died when he finally woke up from his coma. To the Initiative, Sara Ryder was almost expendable – there would be some who mourned – they would have to go on for sake of humanity.

“I am the Pathfinder for humanity. Leaders do not hide while others fight, if our sacrifice saves thousands, then it’s what we do.” Her words were an echo of Raeka’s and a pang of loss for the female salarian struck her deep. It wasn’t what the Resistance Leader wanted to hear and Sara didn’t know what to say for the first time in their mismatched relationship. She couldn’t understand what had upset the angara and she shook her head. “I don’t know what you want me to say or do, I just want to know why we’re here” she said wearily.

“When the Kett come, we fight and if luck is kind then we will live. Otherwise, they come and we die. If you die, then your people are doomed.” It was the first time that Evfra had ever mentioned anything about the terrible fate that would await humanity in Heleus if Sara and her team on the Tempest failed – not only for humanity but for the other races on Andromeda as well and the words stung deep – it made Sara so angry. 

It should have been comical that Sara had taken Evfra by surprise, but the cry of outrage as her fist connected with Evfra’s jaw was more surprising. He stumbled backwards and Sara leaped forward, fists balled and flying – there was no sense or order to her blows. Evfra blocked each one which only incensed Sara further.

“I will not stand by idly and let my people die!” she burst out as one blow finally connected with Sara’s intended target – though her knuckles barely glanced off of Evfra’s shoulder as it grazed past. A hand enclosed around her fist and Sara began to struggle to free herself, “the Archon had us  in that stasis field, it was the only way to get out – if I stayed dead Scott would have finished what I’d started but I survived and now you’re standing here telling me that I’m doomed to fail.”

It wasn’t that at all – Sara knew that, she’d seen the brief moment of sorrow and relief when Evfra had faltered – he had read the report, been updated on her condition of what had happened on with the Paachero and he had come to the Nexus for her – undoubtedly Lexi had had a role to play with his untimely arrival, but it had been him arguing at the door for his entry and he had been there shaking her awake and helping her eat whilst her body had recovered first on his ship and then in resistance headquarters. Now he had brought her here no doubt to urge her back into physical activity. He cared – he would never say it aloud, but he cared.

“SAM is in my head, with SAM’s help I bypassed Kett security – I sounded like one of them” it was like the fight had drained out of her, her hand going slack in Evfra’s as the other went to claw at her throat as it had when the memories of that conversation had returned to Sara in her sleep. Sara half expected SAM to speak up in defence of itself, but it hadn’t – SAM had been silent to her since she had left the Hyperion and she hadn’t missed the AI’s weird chatter – perhaps she had needed the silence…Lexi would know.

“You are no Kett, Sara.” Her name and then Evfra’s lips on her knuckles as his other hand reached out to her other hand, it was unspoken between them that it was the most that Evfra could handle, but it was enough. “That you stand here before me afraid, is not the way of the Kett” another soft ghost of his lips over her hand and Sara bit her trembling lip and fought back another sob.

“Come, we must continue there’s still a lot of ground to cover,” he told Sara, urging her on with a gentle squeeze of her hand and they continued on and Sara realized, that he hadn’t let go. 

 


	8. Eight

The Archon knew everything and Sara only had one chance before he used all that he knew about her and about SAM to wipe them all out. They were all opposed to this, but Sara had ignored them – they’d hijacked the Tempest from the Nexus and not much could stop them when they were hiding in the Scourge when they could, drifting away from it just enough to stay alive and to get within radio signal. There was nothing much left to do – they’d prepared as much as they could. Their destination was locked in and they were returning to the city – to Meridian and she was going to end this before it truly began – she’d had enough of the Kett, of the looming threat of the Archon. It was time to find a home and by gods was she going to get it.

 [Sara, Evfra de Teershav is waiting on vidcall. Perhaps you would care to take it in your quarters?] SAM told her and Sara nodded stiffly, turning away from the star map where she had been staring at the diagrams there for far too long, almost as if she would find an alternate route that they could use for what they planned. But it was the only one that would work – even Kallo had said so. This was their last call before going in, it wasn’t a suicide mission but pissing off the Kett was a dangerous game and they’d already pissed off a dangerous, obsessed Kett. Sara had made the last call before the ship went radio silent.

“Yes Evfra,” Sara called out as she entered her quarters, her head tilting to one side as she stretched first one side as she crossed the room to sit herself down in front of her terminal.

Sara had gotten pretty good at guessing where Evfra was calling her from. More often than not it was the echo of his voice that gave away his location, but this time she couldn’t place where he was – it wasn’t his ship or Voeld or headquarters…from the ambient noise in the background Sara would have had to guess Havarl but who knew?

“It is time to end this chase with the Archon, isn’t it?” Sara should have known that Evfra would figure out what they were doing; especially if news had reached him of the Pathfinder hijacking her own ship – which it probably had. With a shrug, Sara looked away – Evfra had that look about him that made Sara want to let out everything that was on her mind. “You will live and you will die and when you return I will kiss you with relief” and Sara smiled at his words – the closest you would ever hear of a declaration of affection from him.

“No need to get that committed, if we call for reinforcements just send them in,” it was hard to keep her voice light and joking because they both knew the Archon would be looking to silence Sara permanently and she would be calling for reinforcements, the question of when was still hanging heavy in the air.

“Sara, I am – as you say; ‘for once in a blue moon’ trying to have a serious conversation with you” Evfra told her dryly and Sara let the light hearted humour slide, however she couldn’t resist one last quip: “you’re always serious, I’m the one that brings humour to the table.”  Evfra shook his head and Sara couldn’t help the small smile at his obvious disdain.

“Every day when the Kett had me imprisoned I lived with the regret for not saying what should have been said,” Evfra paused then and Sara frowned – this didn’t feel right, at all, Sara was far from a romantic but this – this she wanted to hear in person. She held up a hand before Evfra could push on, “you can tell me now or you can tell me after this is all over and I’ll slap you for being sentimental and then I’ll let you kiss me.”

“Ryder – Sara, you infuriate me and you impress me and you should know that you hold my trust…you hold a lot.” It was a sad smile that graced Sara’s features and she shook her head, there was too much that was being left unsaid and not enough allowed to be said because they both knew better and Sara was anything but sensible at the best of times. It took her two swipes on her omnitool to close off her quarters and silence the com from anyone to bother them – except for perhaps SAM. When she looked back up, she found Evfra was looking away and her heart ached for him. She pulled the hair band from her hair, letting the messy tresses fall to frame her face.

Evfra had never said it, but Sara knew he liked her hair. On the odd and very rare moment when they were alone in person, he would reach out and wind his fingers through until they tangled and he would caress Sara’s skull for a fleeting moment before he would pull away, the intimate moment of fleeting affection gone before Sara could truly savour it.

Her hair loose, Sara’s fingers combed through the strands and smoothed over her jacket to pull the zip down until just the briefest flash of skin and the black band of fabric that was her bra was on display. It was enough to capture Evfra’s attention at least as she slowly moved to slip her jacket off.

“Sara, I-“it was easy to silence Evfra by tugging her jacket off, exposing her olive skin and smoothing her hand over her taut belly. “Going all fatalistic on me isn’t going to stop me getting undressed and pretending it’s you that’s here touching me, Evfra.” Sara told him seriously, shifting so the camera caught the slow trek that her fingers were making down and back up her sides. One movement and her the sports bra that Sara wore came unhooked and she couldn’t help but look at Evfra, “no more until you start showing some skin,” she told him coyly.

Perhaps it was the looming certainty of death or perhaps the fact that there was enough of a distance between them that Evfra could forgo whatever those doubts that made him pause when they were together, but Sara saw the heat in his eyes and the tightening of his jaw and knew that he couldn’t – or perhaps even wouldn’t ignore her.

And as Sara let her bra drop to the floor, eyes set on Evfra, it was easy to just forget the danger that loomed just around the bend.

 

 


	9. Nine

The remnant console burst to life in a stream of activity, it was no longer painful to bear – a simple itching was all that signified that SAM was accelerating the power needed to use the console and what was projected – was something much more than Sara could have ever thought – or hoped for. A seed world in SAM’s words, the terraforming network that the Remnant had created all linking up to this one planet. Ultimately it was not what the Kett were after, but it was what the Initiative needed. Jaal put a hand on her shoulder and Vetra stared at the projection – it was much more than any of them could have thought it was and for a fleeting moment, Sara wanted to shove it all in Evfra’s face and throw his words back to him that she hadn’t chased the impossible.

The first stab of pain through her head made Sara cry out, the second made her clutch her head and the Archon’s terrible voice filled her head, each word pushed more pain through her. Vetra was there, her words illegible through the echoing of the Archon’s thunderous words. She pushed away, making for the door – they had to get back to the Tempest – as the Archon unfolded his plan in her head, the words growing louder and louder and the pain growing more and more unbearable Sara stumbled as the terrible finality of what the Archon was going to do was realized: the Kett knew about the SAM implant in Scott’s mind and it was at that moment that Sara’s sight failed the darkness almost consuming as all she could hear was the Archon’s parting words: ‘good bye Pathfinder, you were almost a worthy opponent.’

Opening the door was a new agony, Jaal beside her – a hand supporting her elbow as Sara pushed through the agony as she willed the remnant door open, Vetra calling to the Tempest but Sara knew there was no point, the Kett had disrupted their coms. They had to get back to the Tempest, she wouldn’t let Scott down now – not when he had just woken up. Tears streamed down her face, but Sara ignored them, insisting that they push forward as she tried to stand and fell.

As soon as the exited the chamber the radio lit up with a burst of chatter – first Kallo and then Suvi cursing as Sara updated them on the mess they’d found themselves in with a dazed voice. The gravity well seemed to centre Sara, even though Lexi was waiting her omnitool lighting up as she scanned Sara. They were all panicked and Sara did the only thing she could think of – she slapped the console that was close by, it was enough to gather everyone’s attention there would be no grandiose speeches just action.

“Put out the call for allies and let’s fucking end this, I’ve had enough of this son of a bitch” Sara turned then, watching the spires of the city grow higher and higher and swiping at the blood that flowed from her nose after activating the console. SAM was dark – the Kett had almost succeeded in finally killing her, but it turned out that she was getting harder to kill than a cockroach.

Back on the Tempest, everyone was busy – rallying allies and colonists to fight and forwarding coordinates of the Meridian. Lexi had all but forced Sara into the med bay and with the doctor’s stern lectures came a cocktail of stimulants and pain relief that would keep Sara moving. She would regret it later, but for now it was what needed to be done.

“Ryder, I need to speak with you on the bridge” Jaal’s voice was quiet over the ship com, peaceful even. It was what she needed to get away from Lexi’s fussing at least. Her omnitool was lighting up as she received updates from Kandros who had mobilised all APEX squads and from Cora who had rallied the asari.

“The Resistance has sent forward a list of their preparations, they are with you,” Jaal’s words greeted her when the doors hissed open to the bridge. It was like a weight was coming off her shoulders and being replaced by sheer determination that was onset by the stabbing pain in her head. 

“Sara Ryder”

She looked up when Evfra said her name, the inflections in her name echoed relief and anger – but for once it seemed like the latter wasn’t her fault or perhaps it was anger that she would do something so ridiculously stupid like push on? She’d undoubtedly find out later.

“The Resistance is with you,” the words were simple, a reminder to just hours before when they had laid bare everything between them and for a moment Sara faltered, the carefully constructed mask that had concealed just how tired and weary from the pain slipped and Evfra alone could see how hard she was hurting. Sara Ryder, Pathfinder to Humanity stood on the razor thin edge of success or failure and both of them knew that she would die trying not to fail.

“At Meridian we will victor over them together.”

                                                                                                   *                     *                    *

The Kett were giving them hell and every step of the way, Sara pushed on and ensured that they got hell given to them back. If the need for victory wasn’t so pressing - they all – asari, turian, salarian and human alike could have stopped to marvel at what they were currently fighting the Kett for: Meridian.

The planet was a terraformer’s dream – if it had been a wonder to be on the city, the true Meridian was something completely other and it could – it would be home. Each step forward, each time a Kett was felled by a spray of gunfire, Sara was getting closer and closer to that goal and the Archon was becoming more and more desperate.

The Primus had upheld her bargain, a necessary problem that Sara would deal with in the future, as well as a furious Moshae when it was revealed the reluctant but seemingly necessary alliance that had been struck between the ambitious Kett and the Pathfinder. But even with the Primus’s help, it was still not enough – the onslaught of Kett, blind to their leader’s obsession kept coming at them with seemingly no abandon and the Kett soon quickly met their match.

A Kett advanced towards Sara as her fingers flew over her omnitool to restore Vetra’s damaged shields, it had her in its sights and Sara reached for her gun, even as she stayed crouched and growled in frustration at the interruption. Her finger slid over the trigger, ready to shoot the kett down when her adversary dropped like a stone. Sara blinked, her gun still aimed at the body that was twitching on the tiled floor.

“Together,” Evfra’s voice growled in her ear and Sara whipped around. Gunfire spattered around them as Sara met Evfra’s gaze. He nodded to her, his gaze hard and determined and Sara held up a finger, wanting him to wait for just another few precious seconds as she finished her work on Vetra’s shields and reassigned her drone to follow Vetra…for the moment at least. Hefting her gun up, she let loose fire as she darted to where Evfra had taken cover at the new onslaught of Kett that were determined to stop their progress. Sliding along the tiled floor and then scrambling out of range of fire, Sara nudged the angara with her elbow and grinned at him from behind her helmet, before throwing caution to the wind and removing it so she could look at him proper.

“You really need to work on your courtship skills, this isn’t a good first date” Sara couldn’t help but poke fun at Evfra. She was exhausted mentally – the only reason she was still standing after the nervous torture that the Archon had subjected her to was undoubtedly thanks to the second cocktail of drugs that Lexi had reluctantly injected into her system and SAM of course. Evfra opened his mouth, no doubt about to spit out a witty retort, Sara moved so she rested her hand on Evfra’s thigh  she leaned in close to kiss him on the cheek.

“We’re beating them together,” she told him, her voice just barely audible over the harsh crack of gunfire and shouting. “I’ll see you on the other side,” she told him and then before she could look back, she pushed onwards, sliding her helmet back over her head moving through the path of destruction that Drack had left in his wake.

                                                                                                  *                                 *                                  *

Sara swayed on the spot, gasping for breath.

The Archon had almost succeeded – determined to the very end to end her existence. SAM was chattering almost nervously to her through their private channel, but Sara did her best to shut the AI out as she stared at the trail of destruction as ringing silence finally set in. But even as she stared at the rubble and the flowing electrical rivers, reality was lingering just in front of her – that the Archon was gone, that Sara had done the near impossible: they had a home, Meridian was theirs – hers.

A hand rested on her shoulder and Sara moved as if in a daze to look at it and then followed it up the arm to look at the owner’s face; Drack. “C’mon kiddo, let’s go have a look” it was followed by a twist of the older Krogan’s lips in what could only be a smile and it was almost frightening. Sara nodded unable to find the right words – or any words.

It had felt like it had taken them forever and a half to fight their way through to where the Archon had sequestered himself in the inner bowls of the manufactured world, but walking back now – past still bodies and the pieces of remnant machinery  - it went quickly – the way back was always quicker. Drack was beside her, a walking support that towered over her and by the final level of their ascent, Sara was leaning heavily against Drack and blinking away her exhaustion as they finally walked up the entry ramp, the sun’s light was harsh but it was there, greenery surrounded them and in the distance the rush of running could be heard.

Coming out of her daze, Sara looked around her when someone uttered what they were all silently thinking: ‘welcome home’ and Sara let out a triumphant laugh, punching Drack weakly on the shoulder. As the allied forces landed around them, they were greeted with the jubilant sounds of celebration from the ground team of the Tempest. Sara’s omnitool pinged – an email from Reyes Vidal, congratulating her on a job well done.

Though Sara still sent back a pointed message, reminding the son of a bitch that if she saw him again, she would finish off what she started.

The real celebrations began anew with the arrival of the resistance members. For the angara, it was the beginning of the end of the Kett’s occupation of Heleus. Any remaining doubts would be dashed with the victory that the aliens from the far away Milky Way had achieved with the Resistance. It was monumental – a moment to be recorded historically for all races present and yet, Sara had one more important task ahead of her: to contact the Nexus.

It was easy to slip away back to the Tempest, up on the bridge; she was greeted with screens of information on Meridian. Considering the amount of damage dealt to the Hyperion when the ark had crash landed on the planet, lives were intact – Dunn’s sacrifice had not been in vain and nor would it be forgotten.

Sara was standing over the console, collecting her thoughts on what she would say to the Nexus when she made contact. She stood only in the mesh suit that she wore underneath her armour, relishing the cool air – which was the best that she was going to get until she had the moment for a bath.

“Have you called your people yet with news of our victory?” Evfra, always Evfra sneaking up on her and startling her. Sara shook her head, turning back to the console that still streamed through readings of Meridian.

“Without a doubt I’ll be asked to deliver with the announcement a speech for the audio records. I’m kind of hoping that vids of the planet will work instead,” a hand slid around her waist and Sara leaned against Evfra, her head coming to rest on his shoulder. “You’ll have to leave soon, won’t you?”  he shifted slightly but that was answer enough answer for Sara. Leaning forward, opened up a line to the Nexus and delivered not the news that the Hyperion had been lost, but the complete unexpected; Meridian was found, the Kett were driven back – there was a home waiting for them.


End file.
